Tell Her About It
by fighting-john-watsons-war
Summary: The implications of this newfound feeling were scaring him. Lily had been his best friend since first year! He wasn't supposed to love her! They were supposed to be close, but not that close, for goodness sake! He didn't understand it, but it was killing him.


Tell Her About It

* * *

_Tell her about it _  
_Tell her everything you feel _  
_Give her every reason _  
_To accept that you're for real _

_Tell her about it _  
_Tell her all your crazy dreams _  
_Let her know you need her _  
_Let her know how much she means _

_Tell her about it _  
_Tell her how you feel right now _  
_Tell her about it _  
_The girl don't want to wait too long _  
_You got to tell her about it _  
_Tell her now and you won't go wrong _  
_You got to tell her about it _  
_Before it gets too late _  
_You got to tell her about it _  
_You know the girl don't want _  
_To wait-you got to _  
_Tell her about it_

-Tell Her About It, Billy Joel

* * *

**April**

_Meet me in the empty Charms classroom before dinner tonight. -L_

Ky Chang looked down at the note crumpled in his fist as he waited on Lily. She never asked to meet him, which made him wonder what was up. Normally they just talked after he was finished with Quidditch practice, although he didn't have it today. Something important was happening, he could feel it.

The door creaked open as a petite redhead snuck through, trying not to draw attention. "Hey, Ky," she murmured.

Ky raised an eyebrow. "Playing Secret Agent, Evans?"

She shook her head, laughing. "Nah, it's just the Hogwarts rumor mill would be happily at work if they knew we were meeting in the empty Charms classroom. And that's drama _neither _of us need."

Ky nodded. After the Andrew Bell-Addi Jurrens fiasco a few months ago, he was not prepared to risk everything he had worked for on a meeting with a good friend.

Lily pushed herself up on a desk and crossed her legs. Her wand tapped idly on her thigh, emitting silver and black sparks. "So, Ky, tell me. How's the lady friend?"

"She's doing all right. We've been writing, I visited her this summer, think I'm gonna propose-"

Ky was abruptly cut off by the squealing Gryffindor hugging him to death. "Ky, that's _great!_"

Ky blushed and nodded. He crossed his arms. "So, what am I here for?"

Lily sighed. "I need a favor. A big one. I'll do anything, I'm not kidding. I've liked him forever, but I'm just sick and tired of waiting on-"

"Potter to make a move?" Ky interrupted. "He's a bloody idiot, Evans. Everyone's sick and tired of waiting on him to make a move on you, it's so obvious he likes you even if he's not aware of it. I'm in. What's this master plan you've got?"

Lily grimaced. "Well...you have to flirt with me."

_What. _

OoO

James Potter was lounging on the sofa in the Head's common room. He stared into the flames. For some reason during the past week, he got the strangest feeling whenever he saw his best friend and fellow head Lily Evans sitting by, or talking to, or eating with Ky Chang.

He was - dare he say it- _jealous. _Yes, he had always liked Ky. He was funny, smart, and was the only other decent Chaser at Hogwarts. But now - now he wanted to pound Ky's head in, and he didn't know why. And the implications of this newfound feeling were scaring him.

Lily had been his best friend since first year! He wasn't supposed to love her! They were supposed to be close, but not that close, for goodness sake!

The portrait door swung open. "Hey, James, what's up?" Remus was the only one who refused to use the Marauder nicknames as a standard. Remus had a silly grin on his flushed face as he propped his feet up on the table. James looked at him oddly.

"Not much...what's up with you?" Remus grinned wider. "I told Bethany I love her, and she said it back!"

James should have been happy for this huge step in Remus' life and relationship; Remus had come a long way from the boy who thought he didn't deserve love. But somehow he was only jealous of the ease Remus had in doing so.

After a minute of silence, Remus looked at James knowingly. "You don't know what to think about Lily and Ky together, do you?" James blushed. "That obvious?" Remus shifted his weight and turned to face him. "Only if you know what to look for." He wiggled around for a second. "So, you and Lily. You love her."

"What?" James cried. "No, I don't! Lily's my best friend, and I don't want to see her hurt-" "You also want to see her with a guy you think is right for her, don't you?" Remus cut in. James nodded slowly. "Well, yeah, I mean, I don't want her ending up with a tool." Remus chuckled. "Close your eyes and picture this. Lily's wearing a beautiful white dress, her hair's done up, her makeup is light and natural and the sun is hitting her hair just right. The image she creates is perfect. With me so far." James nodded.

"Then you hear strains of a song, and she starts to dance. It seems like a waltz, and she's dancing alone. A man, also dressed up, comes and spins her around. She doesn't leave his arms for the rest of the song. The music fades, and Lily leans in for a kiss. The man meets her halfway and you get a good look at his face. Who was Lily dancing with?"

Remus was good. Remus was really good. And this - this was_ bad_. With a jolt, James knew exactly who the man was in the picture Remus had painted. "Me."

James slowly opened his eyes and the scene faded away. He loved Lily - his best friend. He was in love with his best friend. He had known it but never admitted it until Remus just now forced him into it. He loved Lily.

Remus glanced at him before standing up and walking towards the door. "Now what are you gonna do about it?"

* * *

**May**

_Ugh. _

James crumpled up the piece of parchment and tossed it carelessly over his shoulder where it plopped in the wastebasket.

It was ridiculous how many times he had thought out a speech for Lily, only to scrap it in defeat. It wasn't good enough for her. It never was. He had tried for a month, he had failed for a month, and he was _stuck_.

It was time for desperate measures. James had, in order to seem more responsible, started to train his conscience to advise him. Ironically enough, his conscience took the shape of Sirius over Remus. Forget the fact that if James ever seriously talked to Sirius, anything said would be held over his head as blackmail. James couldn't count the number of times he had a conversation with Little Sirius to talk it out and decide on a course of action.

He checked the common room for Lily or his friends; seeing the lack of, he started to talk with his conscience out loud.

"Lily is my best friend, Sirius. I can't just tell her I love her!"

_Why not? What on earth is wrong with just being honest with her and saying it? _

"It's not good enough for her. She deserves something more special than that!"

_You think it's gotta be some big moment? Some huge fireworks-and-candlelight dinner for two? How romantic! How sweet! How utterly, utterly cliche and utterly, utterly not Lily. Lily likes originality. She likes honesty. She doesn't want the storybook classic, she wants the topsy-turvy free-for-all, the fun way of getting from Point A to Point B. You know that._

"But - what will I say? I don't want to scare her off."

_James, let me give you some advice. I may not have anyone I really care about enough to say it to, but after spending seven years with Moony, I know what I'm talking about. If you really love her, you don't have to worry. Somehow, you just know. _

Little Sirius faded away, leaving James at an absolution. That helped none. All he knew to do was find Lily.

OoO

"Ky! Ky!" Ky Chang spun around in the corridor to look for the voice. Remus Lupin was running up to him. He was a nice bloke and everything, but he and Ky had never talked before. They were _friendly_, but not_ friends_.

"Remus," he greeted coolly. "Something you needed to talk about?" Remus nodded and grinned. "I know the plan. I found the blueprints a few weeks ago and tested them out for myself. It's spot-on, really well done, just made a modification. Building it shouldn't take any more than a week now. Tell Lily she did a great job for me, yeah?"

Remus walked away. Ky didn't know how Remus knew, but he understood that Remus had figured out the plan and done something to help end this charade.

He was grateful. Lily was amazing, but it was just too awkward for both of them, subtly flirting. Everyone knew, it seemed, that for Lily it was time for desperate measures, and the rumors hadn't spread like normal. Hogwart's latest couple were left well alone.

Ky turned into the Transfiguration classroom. Lily would want to know about this latest development later.

OoO

James ran down the corridor, breathing heavily. He had to find Lily - he just had to. He had finally figured it out.

And he knew if it was anybody else, he wouldn't be running quite this fast, trying quite this hard. But it was Lily, and she deserved it.

_There!_

James grabbed Lily's wrist just before turning into the History of Magic classroom, where Binns was floating at the front of the room.

"Come with me," he murmured. Lily nodded and he led her silently up flights of stairs to the Astronomy Tower.

He bolted the door behind him and turned to stand at the ledge by Lily.

"Is there a reason you pulled me out of class, James?" Her voice was cool and collected.

James shook his head. "Ever since you and Ky started talking more, we haven't talked. We should talk." Lily tilted her head and his breath caught; how was it a month ago he wouldn't have noticed her surreal beauty? It was screaming to be noticed now.

"Talk."

_Here goes nothing, Little Sirius. _

"Lily, you're amazing. And I love you. And I feel kinda weird saying this because we've been friends for so long, but this is worth risking because it just feels right to me. Watching you with - well, I can't settle for friends anymore, and I've gotta know."

Lily chuckled darkly and shook her head slowly. "James...it took you quite long enough."

James wasn't sure he heard right. "Come again?"

Her head snapped to him instantly. "You heard right. I said, it took you long enough."

James' head was whirling. "What about Ky?"

"What about him?" Lily shrugged. "We aren't going out or anything..."

A look of dawning comprehension lit over her features. She slapped his arm lightly. "You didn't think that - no, James, we weren't together. I'm friends with his girlfriend, silly. Her name is Marissa Lis DuClare. She goes to Beauxbatons and he wants to propose to her. We've been getting to know each other better, because soon he's going to be hitched to my friend. _We're just friends_."

_"You're kidding." _

Lily grinned. "Not at all, I swear! I've been waiting for Merlin knows how long for _this_, I'm not going to joke around."

How long had she been waiting on him? James' heart thudded. Had he hurt her with his blindness and stupidity? Did she feel pain watching him with his multiple girlfriends? He couldn't bring himself to ask. He could only give her compensation.

Without a word, he pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on her shoulder, breathing on her neck.

"Well, then, Miss Evans," he murmured huskily, "We're alone, class is going on so there won't be any interruptions...I suppose we should make up for lost time."

Lily smirked. "Sounds good to me."

OoO

The next day as Lily and James walked into the Great Hall, his arm wrapped possessively around her waist, everyone was surprised, not that Lily and James were together, but that _finally_ Potter made a move. It had been so obvious...but no one had thought he would have figured it out.

To James' confusion, Lily disentangled herself from his arms. He watched as she walked over to the Ravenclaw table, where a tall, muscular boy with bright blue eyes and dark brown hair was grinning wildly. He pulled her into a hug as she murmured in his ear:

"Thank you for helping me, Ky."

* * *

A/N: Lis is pronounced 'Lee' in French.

Yes, Ky really does have a girlfriend he was proposing to. No, Lily didn't actually know her. She came up with that on the spot because she wasn't quite expecting James to confront her about it yet and she hadn't had a story ready. She just knew that Ky had a little lady tucked up in France.

Lily's plan was to make James jealous to get him to realize he likes her. She's liked him for a few years and she was sick of waiting on him to get a move on. Remus knew that Lily and Ky were just friends, and so he talked to James of his own volition, speeding up the process as much as possible. Remus' little speech to Ky was a code that meant he had figured out the plan and he had helped speed things along, and things shouldn't take much longer to happen.

Make sense? :)

This was fun to write and just came to me a few days ago. Not my best writing and it may not make sense all the way through, but I'm happy with it. I love the song and the concept...so, yeah. :)

Please review!


End file.
